Currencies: the dollar is suffering from rising oil prices.

Penalized mechanically by rising oil prices, the dollar gave up ground against the other major currencies.

As well, the euro surpassed the $ 1.40, more than 1.402 dollar, the greenback dropped to about 82 yen against the Japanese currency. The euro is trading a little over 115 yen.

'Oil prices have again increased strongly Friday,a barrel reachs in New York levels not seen since September 2008 as violence continued in Libya, especially in the oil ports of the east,' said a manager Barclays Exchange.

He stated that the courses have soared from about $ 18 (over 21%) over the last two weeks and reached 104.60 dollars Friday in plenary, the highest level since September 29, 2008.

Beyond the effect of oil, the euro-dollar is influenced by expectations of tighter monetary policy in the euro area, which approach from the ECB meeting on Thursday.

If the key rate was kept to a low of 1%, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet has paved the way for a future increase to offset inflationary pressures, which could increase even occur as early as next month.

In contrast, the Fed seems reluctant to challenge its quantitative easing program (QE), despite the last employment report that confirms the dynamism of the labor market in the United States and hostility displayed by several members of the central bank to maintain a policy too accommodative.

The euro fell slightly against the pound sterling at 0.859 pound, but advance against the Swiss franc to 1.298 Swiss francs.